About Carloman, King of the Franks

In the era of Carloman, France did not exist. Further, he ruled over that part of the Frankish realm that corresponded with present Germany (Austrasia). He was part of the family that later became the Carolingian dynasty, but this did not serve as his name during his lifetime. There is no information on where he was born - even tracing the movements of his father, Charles Martel, does not produce many hints about this.

From the English Wikipedia page on Carloman, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia (Maire du Palais et duc des Francs, brother of Pippin the Short):

Carloman (between 706 and 716[1] – 17 August[2] 754) was the eldest son of Charles Martel, major domo or mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, and his wife Chrotrud.

On Charles' death (741), Carloman and his brother Pippin the Short succeeded to their father's legal positions, Carloman in Austrasia, and Pippin in Neustria. He was a member of the family later called the Carolingians and it can be argued that he was instrumental in consolidating their power at the expense of the ruling Merovingian kings of the Franks.

He withdrew from public life in 747 to take up the monastic habit.

Assumption of power

After the death of his father, power was not initially divided to include Grifo, another of Charles' sons, by his second wife Swanachild. This was per Charles' wishes, though Grifo demanded a portion of the realm from his brothers, who refused him.

By 742, Carloman and Pippin had ousted their half-brother, Grifo and forced him into a monastery, and each turned his attention towards his own area of influence as major domo, Pippin in the West (in what was called Neustria, roughly what is now France) and Carloman in the East (in what was called Austrasia, roughly what is now Germany), which was the Carolingian base of power.

With Grifo contained, the two mayors, who had not yet proved themselves in battle in defence of the realm as their father had, on the initiative of Carloman, installed the Merovingian Childeric III as king (743), even though Martel had left the throne vacant since the death of Theuderic IV in 737.

Unlike most medieval instances of fraternal power sharing, Carloman and Pippin for seven years seemed at least willing to work together; certainly, they undertook many military actions together. Carloman joined Pippin against Hunald of Aquitaine's rising in 742 and again in 745.

Pippin assisted Carloman against the Saxons 742-743, when Duke Theoderic was forced to come to terms, and against Odilo of Bavaria in 742 and again in 744, when peace was established between the brothers and their brother-in-law, for Odilo had married their sister Hiltrude.

Strengthening of the dynasty

In his own realm, Carloman strengthened his authority in part via his support of the Anglo-Saxon missionary Winfrid (later Saint Boniface), the so-called "Apostle of the Germans," whom he charged with restructuring the church in Austrasia. This was in part the continuation of a policy begun under his grandfather, Pippin of Herstal, and continued to under his father, Charles Martel, who erected four dioceses in Bavaria (Salzburg, Regensburg, Freising, and Passau) and gave them Boniface as archbishop and metropolitan over all Germany east of the Rhine, with his seat at Mainz.

Boniface had been under Charles Martel's protection from 723 on; indeed the saint himself explained to his old friend, Daniel of Winchester, that without it he could neither administer his church, defend his clergy, nor prevent idolatry.

Carloman was instrumental in convening the Concilium Germanicum in 742, the first major Church synod to be held in the eastern regions of the Frankish kingdom. Chaired jointly by him and Boniface, the synod ruled that priests were not allowed to bear arms or to host females in their houses and that it was one of their primary tasks to eradicate pagan beliefs.

While his father had frequently confiscated church property to reward his followers and to pay for the standing army that had brought him victory at Tours, (a policy supported by Boniface as necessary to defend Christianity) by 742 the Carolingians were wealthy enough to pay their military retainers and still support the Church. For Carloman, a deeply religious man, it was a duty of love, for Pippin a practical duty. Both saw the necessity of strengthening the ties between their house and the Church.

Therefore, Carloman sought to increase the assets of the church. He donated, for instance, the land for one of Boniface's most important foundations, the monastery of Fulda.

Political ruthlessness

Despite his piety, Carloman could be ruthless towards real or perceived opponents. After repeated armed revolts and rebellions, Carloman in 746 convened an assembly of the Alamanni magnates at Cannstatt and then had most of the magnates, numbering in the thousands, arrested and executed for high treason in the Blood Court at Cannstatt. This eradicated virtually the entire tribal leadership of the Alamanni and ended the independence of the tribal duchy of Alamannia, which was thereafter governed by counts appointed by their Frankish overlords.

These actions strengthened Carloman's position, and that of the family as a whole, especially in terms of their rivalries with other leading barbarian families such as the Bavarian Agilolfings.

Withdrawal from public life

On 15 August 747, Carloman renounced his position as major domo and withdrew to a monastic life, being tonsured in Rome by Pope Zachary. All sources from the period indicate that Carloman's renunciation of the world was volitional, although some have speculated that he went to Rome for other, unspecified reasons and was "encouraged" to remain in Rome by the pope, acting on a request from Pepin to keep Carloman in Italy.[3]

Carloman founded a monastery on Monte Soratte and then went to Monte Cassino. All sources from the period indicate that he believed his calling was the Church.

He withdrew to Monte Cassino and spent most of the remainder of his life there, presumably in meditation and prayer. His son, Drogo, demanded from Pippin the Short his father's share of the family patrimony, but was swiftly neutralised.[4]

At the time of Carloman's retirement, Grifo escaped his imprisonment and fled to Bavaria, where Duke Odilo provided support and assistance. But when Odilo died a year later and Grifo attempted to seize the duchy of Bavaria for himself, Pippin, who had become sole major domo and dux et princeps Francorum, took decisive action by invading Bavaria and installing Odilo's infant son, Tassilo III, as duke under Frankish suzerainty.

Grifo continued his rebellion, but was eventually killed in the battle of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in 753.

Seven years after Carloman's retirement and on the eve of his death, he once more stepped briefly on the public stage. In 754, Pope Stephen II had begged Pippin, now king, to come to his aid against the king of the Lombards, Aistulf.

Carloman left Monte Cassino to visit his brother to ask him not to march on Italy (and possibly to drum up support for his son Drogo).[5] Pippin was unmoved, and imprisoned Carloman in Vienne, where he died on 17 August. He was buried in Monte Cassino.

He succeeded his father as maior domus, jointly with his brother Pepin. They deprived their half-brother Grifo of his inheritance, and defeated him after he rebelled against them. In the division of territories agreed with his brother, Carloman governed Austrasia, Alemannia, Thuringia and northern Alsace.

The brothers were faced with revolts in Frisia, Bavaria, Alemannia and Aquitaine. As a symbolic assertion of their authority, they nominated Childeric III as [Merovingian] king in 743. Einhard records that "Karlomannus" was in Saxony at "castrum Hohseoburg" and there accepted the surrender of "Theodericum Saxonem illius loci primarium" in 743[170].

In 745, Carloman's brother Pepin appropriated the province of Alemannia for himself. Carloman reasserted his authority with an expedition against the Alemans in 746, massacring the leaders who had betrayed him to his brother. This triggered the defection of his other supporters, and Carloman relinquished power.

The Chronicon Sancti Medardi Suessionensis records that “Carlomannus frater Pippini junioris” became a monk in 745 and that “Pippinus junior parvus frater eius” obtained the whole of “Principatum Francorum”[172].

The Royal Frankish Annals record that, after 15 Aug 747, he left for Rome, where he built the monastery of St Sylvester on Monte Soracte before moving to the monastery of St Benedict at Monte Cassino where he became a monk[173]. He returned to France in 753 to oppose the request by Pope Stephen III (II) for Frankish help against the Lombards[174].

The Annales Moselleni record the death in 754 of "Karlamannus"[175]. m ---. The name of Carloman's wife is not known. Carloman & his wife had [three or more] children:

a) DROGO ([730/35]-after 753). "Karlemannus maiorum domus filius quondam Karoli" made a donation of property including "villa…Levione…in pago Condustrinse…" to "monasterio Stabulaus seu Malmundario" dated 8 Jun [746], subscribed by "Drogone filio eius"[176]. He succeeded his father in 747 as maior domus. His uncle Pepin set him aside in 753 and sent him to a monastery where he died soon after.

b) [other children. Settipani refers to texts which refer to "the children of Carloman" without naming them, but he does not cite these sources[177].]

was the eldest son of Charles Martel, major domo or mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks,

[The Franks or the Frankish people were one of several west Germanic federations....]

and his wife Chrotrud. On Charles' death, Carloman and his brother Pippin the Short succeeded to their father's legal positions, Carloman in Austrasia, and Pippin in Neustria

[Facts About Neustria: The territory of Neustria originated in 511, made up of the regions from Aquitaine to the English Channel, approximating mos.... ]

He was a member of the family later called the Carolingians and it can be argued that he was instrumental in consolidating their power at the expense of the ruling Merovingian kings of the Franks. He withdrew from public life in 747 to take up the monastic habit.

Assumption of power

After the death of his father, power was not initially divided to include Grifo,

[Grifo was the son of the Frankish major domo Charles Martel and his second wife Swanahild....]

another of Charles' sons. This was per Charles' wishes, though Grifo demanded a portion of the realm from his brothers, who refused him. By 742, Carloman and Pippin had ousted Grifo and forced him into a monastery, and each turned his attention towards his own area of influence as major domo, Pippin in the West (in what was called Neustria, roughly what is now France) and Carloman in the East (in what was called Austrasia, roughly what is now Germany), which was the Carolingian base of power.

With Grifo contained, the two mayors, who had not yet proved themselves in battle in defence of the realm as their father had, on the initiative of Carloman, installed the Merovingian Childeric III

[Childeric III, called either the Idiot or the Phantom King, king of the Franks, was the fourteenth and last king...]

as king, even though Martel had left the throne vacant since the death of Theuderic IV

[Theuderic IV was the Merovingian King of the Franks from 721 until his death in 737....]

Unlike most medieval instances of fraternal power sharing, Carloman and Pippin for seven years seemed at least willing to work together; certainly, they undertook many military actions together. Carloman joined Pippin against Hunald of Aquitaine's rising in 742 and again in 745.

[Hunald, Duke of Aquitaine, succeeded his father Odo the Great in 735....]

Pippin assisted Carloman against the Saxons 742-743, when Theoderic, Duke of Saxony,

[Theoderic or Theodoric was the leader of the Saxons in 743–744....]

was forced to come to terms, and against Odilo of Bavaria

[Odilo, of the house of Agilolfing, ruled Bavaria from 736 until his death in 748, succeeding Duke Hugbert of Bavaria...]

in 742 and again in 744, when peace was established between the brothers and their brother-in-law, for Odilo of Bavaria had married their sister Hiltrude

[Hiltrud is a daughter of Charles Martel and Rotrude of Treves....]

Strengthening of the dynasty

In his own realm, Carloman strengthened his authority in part via his support of the Anglo-Saxon

[Anglo-Saxons is a collective term usually used to describe culturally and linguistically related groups of people living in ...]

missionary Winfrid (later Saint Boniface),

[Saint Boniface , the Apostle of the Germans, born Winfrid or Wynfrith at Crediton in Devon, England, was a...]

the so-called "Apostle of the Germans," whom he charged with restructuring the church in Austrasia. This was in part the continuation of a policy begun under his grandfather, Pippin of Herstal,

[Pippin of Herstal , also known as Pippin the Middle, Pippin the Younger , or Pippin II, was the grandson ...]

and continued to under his father, Charles Martel, who erected four dioceses in Bavaria (Salzburg, Regensburg, Freising, and Passau) and gave them Boniface as archbishop and metropolitan over all Germany east of the Rhine, with his seat at Mainz. Boniface had been under Charles Martel's protection from 723 on; indeed the saint himself explained to his old friend, Daniel of Winchester, that without it he could neither administer his church, defend his clergy, nor prevent idolatry. Carloman was instrumental in convening the Concilium Germanicum

[The Concilium Germanicum was the first major Church synod to be held in the eastern parts of the Frankish kingdoms....]

in 742, the first major Church synod

[A synod is a council of a church, usually a Christian church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or app...]

to be held in the eastern regions of the Frankish kingdom. Chaired jointly by him and Boniface, the synod ruled that priests were not allowed to bear arms or to host females in their houses and that it was one of their primary tasks to eradicate pagan beliefs. While his father had frequently confiscated church property to reward his followers and to pay for the standing army that had brought him victory at Tours,

[The Battle of Tours , often called Battle of Poitiers and also called in Arabic The Court of Martyrs was fought n...]

(a policy supported by Boniface as necessary to defend Christianity) by 742 the Carolingians were wealthy enough to pay their military retainers and still support the Church. For Carloman, a deeply religious man, it was a duty of love, for Pippin a practical duty. Both saw the necessity of strengthening the ties between their house and the Church. Therefore, Carloman sought to increase the assets of the church. He donated, for instance, the land for one of Boniface's most important foundations, the monastery of Fulda.

[Fulda is a city in Hessen, Germany; it is located on the Fulda River and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district ....]

Political ruthlessness

Despite his piety, Carloman could be ruthless towards real or perceived opponents. After repeated armed revolts and rebellions, Carloman in 746 convened an assembly of the Alamanni

[The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Ma...]

magnates at Cannstatt and then had most of the magnates, numbering in the thousands, arrested and executed for high treason

[High treason, broadly defined, is an action which is grossly disloyal to one's country or sovereign....]

in the Blood Court at Cannstatt.

[The blood court at Cannstatt took place as Carloman in 746 invited all nobles of the Alamanni, to a council at Cannstatt....]

This eradicated virtually the entire tribal leadership of the Alamanni and ended the independence of the tribal duchy of Alamannia, which was thereafter governed by counts appointed by their Frankish overlords.

These actions strengthened Carloman's position, and that of the family as a whole, especially in terms of their rivalries with other leading barbarian families such as the Bavarian

[The Free State of Bavaria , with an area of 70,553 km and 12.4 million inhabitants, forms the southernmost state...]

Agilolfings.

Withdrawal from public life

On 15 August 747, Carloman renounced his position as major domo and withdrew to a monastic life, being tonsured

[Tonsure is the practice of some Christian churches and Hindu temples of cutting the hair from the scalp of clerics as a symb...]

in Rome

[Rome is the capital of Italy and of its region, called Latium....]

by Pope Zachary.

[Pope Zachary , pope , from a Greek family of Calabria, appears to have been on intimate terms with Gregory III, whom he succ...]

All sources from the period indicate that Carloman's renunciation of the world was volitional, although some have speculated that he went to Rome for other, unspecified reasons and was "encouraged" to remain in Rome by the pope, acting on a request from Pepin to keep Carloman in Italy.

Carloman founded a monastery on Monte Soratte and then went to Monte Cassino.

[Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about eighty miles south of Rome, Italy, a mile to the west of the town of Cassino and 520 m...]

All sources from the period indicate that he believed his calling was the Church. He withdrew to Monte Cassino and spent most of the remainder of his life there, presumably in meditation and prayer. His son, Drogo, demanded from Pippin the Short his father's share of the family patrimony, but was swiftly neutralised.

At the time of Carloman's retirement, Grifo escaped his imprisonment and fled to Bavaria, where Duke Odilo

[Odilo, of the house of Agilolfing, ruled Bavaria from 736 until his death in 748, succeeding Duke Hugbert of Bavaria....]

provided support and assistance. But when Odilo died a year later and Grifo attempted to seize the duchy of Bavaria for himself, Pippin, who had become sole major domo and dux et princeps Francorum, took decisive action by invading Bavaria and installing Odilo's infant son, Tassilo III,

[Tassilo III was duke of Bavaria from 748 to 787, the last of the house of the Agilolfings....]

as duke under Frankish suzerainty. Grifo continued his rebellion, but was eventually killed in the battle of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne

[Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne is a commune in the upper valley of the River Arc, and the capital and name of a canton and an arron...]

in 753.

Seven years after Carloman's retirement and on the eve of his death, he once more stepped briefly on the public stage. In 754, Pope Stephen II

[Stephen II was a pope of the Roman Catholic Church ....]

had begged Pippin, now king, to come to his aid against the king of the Lombards,

[The Lombards , were a Germanic people originally from Northern Europe that entered the late Roman Empire....]

Aistulf.

[Aistulf was the duke of Friuli from 744, king of Lombards from 749, and duke of Spoleto from 751....]

Carloman left Monte Cassino to visit his brother to ask him not to march on Italy (and possibly to drum up support for his son Drogo). Pippin was unmoved, and imprisoned Carloman in Vienne,

[Vienne is a departement of France, named after the Vienne River. ...]

Drogo was the eldest son of Carloman, mayor of the palace of Austrasia. He was born before Carloman came to power in 741.

In 747 Carloman went on a pilgrimage to Rome, leaving his sons under the guardianship of his uncle Pepin the Short and the king, Childeric III. Drogo, the eldest, had probably already reached his majority and may have been left behind as mayor of the palace by his father.

Drogo's position was strong at this point and he held a church synod in 747 or 748 competing with a simultaneous synod held by Pepin. The great reformer and apostle to the Germans, Boniface, was unsure which one to attend.

After the birth of a son, Charles, to Pepin on 2 April 748, Drogo's position weakened. Carloman stayed behind in Italy to become a monk at Monte Soracte (either of his own volition or at Pope Stephen II's request) and Pepin began to manoeuvre against Drogo.

By 751 Pepin's position was strong enough to garner papal support for a takeover of the kingdom, and Childeric was deposed and Pepin crowned in his place. Drogo was forced to flee. In 753 Pope Stephen and Carloman came to Francia, the former to lend support to Pepin, the latter possibly to Drogo.

Pepin imprisoned Carloman in Vienne and Drogo was captured, tonsured, and put in a monastery.

In the era of Carloman, France did not exist. Further, he ruled over that part of the Frankish realm that corresponded with present Germany (Austrasia). He was part of the family that later became the Carolingian dynasty, but this did not serve as his name during his lifetime. There is no information on where he was born - even tracing the movements of his father, Charles Martel, does not produce many hints about this.

From the English Wikipedia page on Carloman, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia (Maire du Palais et duc des Francs, brother of Pippin the Short):

Carloman (between 706 and 716[1] – 17 August[2] 754) was the eldest son of Charles Martel, major domo or mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, and his wife Chrotrud.

On Charles' death (741), Carloman and his brother Pippin the Short succeeded to their father's legal positions, Carloman in Austrasia, and Pippin in Neustria. He was a member of the family later called the Carolingians and it can be argued that he was instrumental in consolidating their power at the expense of the ruling Merovingian kings of the Franks.

He withdrew from public life in 747 to take up the monastic habit.

Assumption of power

After the death of his father, power was not initially divided to include Grifo, another of Charles' sons, by his second wife Swanachild. This was per Charles' wishes, though Grifo demanded a portion of the realm from his brothers, who refused him.

By 742, Carloman and Pippin had ousted their half-brother, Grifo and forced him into a monastery, and each turned his attention towards his own area of influence as major domo, Pippin in the West (in what was called Neustria, roughly what is now France) and Carloman in the East (in what was called Austrasia, roughly what is now Germany), which was the Carolingian base of power.

With Grifo contained, the two mayors, who had not yet proved themselves in battle in defence of the realm as their father had, on the initiative of Carloman, installed the Merovingian Childeric III as king (743), even though Martel had left the throne vacant since the death of Theuderic IV in 737.

Unlike most medieval instances of fraternal power sharing, Carloman and Pippin for seven years seemed at least willing to work together; certainly, they undertook many military actions together. Carloman joined Pippin against Hunald of Aquitaine's rising in 742 and again in 745.

Pippin assisted Carloman against the Saxons 742-743, when Duke Theoderic was forced to come to terms, and against Odilo of Bavaria in 742 and again in 744, when peace was established between the brothers and their brother-in-law, for Odilo had married their sister Hiltrude.

Strengthening of the dynasty

In his own realm, Carloman strengthened his authority in part via his support of the Anglo-Saxon missionary Winfrid (later Saint Boniface), the so-called "Apostle of the Germans," whom he charged with restructuring the church in Austrasia. This was in part the continuation of a policy begun under his grandfather, Pippin of Herstal, and continued to under his father, Charles Martel, who erected four dioceses in Bavaria (Salzburg, Regensburg, Freising, and Passau) and gave them Boniface as archbishop and metropolitan over all Germany east of the Rhine, with his seat at Mainz.

Boniface had been under Charles Martel's protection from 723 on; indeed the saint himself explained to his old friend, Daniel of Winchester, that without it he could neither administer his church, defend his clergy, nor prevent idolatry.

Carloman was instrumental in convening the Concilium Germanicum in 742, the first major Church synod to be held in the eastern regions of the Frankish kingdom. Chaired jointly by him and Boniface, the synod ruled that priests were not allowed to bear arms or to host females in their houses and that it was one of their primary tasks to eradicate pagan beliefs.

While his father had frequently confiscated church property to reward his followers and to pay for the standing army that had brought him victory at Tours, (a policy supported by Boniface as necessary to defend Christianity) by 742 the Carolingians were wealthy enough to pay their military retainers and still support the Church. For Carloman, a deeply religious man, it was a duty of love, for Pippin a practical duty. Both saw the necessity of strengthening the ties between their house and the Church.

Therefore, Carloman sought to increase the assets of the church. He donated, for instance, the land for one of Boniface's most important foundations, the monastery of Fulda.

Political ruthlessness

Despite his piety, Carloman could be ruthless towards real or perceived opponents. After repeated armed revolts and rebellions, Carloman in 746 convened an assembly of the Alamanni magnates at Cannstatt and then had most of the magnates, numbering in the thousands, arrested and executed for high treason in the Blood Court at Cannstatt. This eradicated virtually the entire tribal leadership of the Alamanni and ended the independence of the tribal duchy of Alamannia, which was thereafter governed by counts appointed by their Frankish overlords.

These actions strengthened Carloman's position, and that of the family as a whole, especially in terms of their rivalries with other leading barbarian families such as the Bavarian Agilolfings.

Withdrawal from public life

On 15 August 747, Carloman renounced his position as major domo and withdrew to a monastic life, being tonsured in Rome by Pope Zachary. All sources from the period indicate that Carloman's renunciation of the world was volitional, although some have speculated that he went to Rome for other, unspecified reasons and was "encouraged" to remain in Rome by the pope, acting on a request from Pepin to keep Carloman in Italy.[3]

Carloman founded a monastery on Monte Soratte and then went to Monte Cassino. All sources from the period indicate that he believed his calling was the Church.

He withdrew to Monte Cassino and spent most of the remainder of his life there, presumably in meditation and prayer. His son, Drogo, demanded from Pippin the Short his father's share of the family patrimony, but was swiftly neutralised.[4]

At the time of Carloman's retirement, Grifo escaped his imprisonment and fled to Bavaria, where Duke Odilo provided support and assistance. But when Odilo died a year later and Grifo attempted to seize the duchy of Bavaria for himself, Pippin, who had become sole major domo and dux et princeps Francorum, took decisive action by invading Bavaria and installing Odilo's infant son, Tassilo III, as duke under Frankish suzerainty.

Grifo continued his rebellion, but was eventually killed in the battle of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in 753.

Seven years after Carloman's retirement and on the eve of his death, he once more stepped briefly on the public stage. In 754, Pope Stephen II had begged Pippin, now king, to come to his aid against the king of the Lombards, Aistulf.

Carloman left Monte Cassino to visit his brother to ask him not to march on Italy (and possibly to drum up support for his son Drogo).[5] Pippin was unmoved, and imprisoned Carloman in Vienne, where he died on 17 August. He was buried in Monte Cassino.

He succeeded his father as maior domus, jointly with his brother Pepin. They deprived their half-brother Grifo of his inheritance, and defeated him after he rebelled against them. In the division of territories agreed with his brother, Carloman governed Austrasia, Alemannia, Thuringia and northern Alsace.

The brothers were faced with revolts in Frisia, Bavaria, Alemannia and Aquitaine. As a symbolic assertion of their authority, they nominated Childeric III as [Merovingian] king in 743. Einhard records that "Karlomannus" was in Saxony at "castrum Hohseoburg" and there accepted the surrender of "Theodericum Saxonem illius loci primarium" in 743[170].

In 745, Carloman's brother Pepin appropriated the province of Alemannia for himself. Carloman reasserted his authority with an expedition against the Alemans in 746, massacring the leaders who had betrayed him to his brother. This triggered the defection of his other supporters, and Carloman relinquished power.

The Chronicon Sancti Medardi Suessionensis records that “Carlomannus frater Pippini junioris” became a monk in 745 and that “Pippinus junior parvus frater eius” obtained the whole of “Principatum Francorum”[172].

The Royal Frankish Annals record that, after 15 Aug 747, he left for Rome, where he built the monastery of St Sylvester on Monte Soracte before moving to the monastery of St Benedict at Monte Cassino where he became a monk[173]. He returned to France in 753 to oppose the request by Pope Stephen III (II) for Frankish help against the Lombards[174].

The Annales Moselleni record the death in 754 of "Karlamannus"[175]. m ---. The name of Carloman's wife is not known. Carloman & his wife had [three or more] children:

a) DROGO ([730/35]-after 753). "Karlemannus maiorum domus filius quondam Karoli" made a donation of property including "villa…Levione…in pago Condustrinse…" to "monasterio Stabulaus seu Malmundario" dated 8 Jun [746], subscribed by "Drogone filio eius"[176]. He succeeded his father in 747 as maior domus. His uncle Pepin set him aside in 753 and sent him to a monastery where he died soon after.

b) [other children. Settipani refers to texts which refer to "the children of Carloman" without naming them, but he does not cite these sources[177].]

was the eldest son of Charles Martel, major domo or mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks,

[The Franks or the Frankish people were one of several west Germanic federations....]

and his wife Chrotrud. On Charles' death, Carloman and his brother Pippin the Short succeeded to their father's legal positions, Carloman in Austrasia, and Pippin in Neustria

[Facts About Neustria: The territory of Neustria originated in 511, made up of the regions from Aquitaine to the English Channel, approximating mos.... ]

He was a member of the family later called the Carolingians and it can be argued that he was instrumental in consolidating their power at the expense of the ruling Merovingian kings of the Franks. He withdrew from public life in 747 to take up the monastic habit.

Assumption of power

After the death of his father, power was not initially divided to include Grifo,

[Grifo was the son of the Frankish major domo Charles Martel and his second wife Swanahild....]

another of Charles' sons. This was per Charles' wishes, though Grifo demanded a portion of the realm from his brothers, who refused him. By 742, Carloman and Pippin had ousted Grifo and forced him into a monastery, and each turned his attention towards his own area of influence as major domo, Pippin in the West (in what was called Neustria, roughly what is now France) and Carloman in the East (in what was called Austrasia, roughly what is now Germany), which was the Carolingian base of power.

With Grifo contained, the two mayors, who had not yet proved themselves in battle in defence of the realm as their father had, on the initiative of Carloman, installed the Merovingian Childeric III

[Childeric III, called either the Idiot or the Phantom King, king of the Franks, was the fourteenth and last king...]

as king, even though Martel had left the throne vacant since the death of Theuderic IV

[Theuderic IV was the Merovingian King of the Franks from 721 until his death in 737....]

Unlike most medieval instances of fraternal power sharing, Carloman and Pippin for seven years seemed at least willing to work together; certainly, they undertook many military actions together. Carloman joined Pippin against Hunald of Aquitaine's rising in 742 and again in 745.

[Hunald, Duke of Aquitaine, succeeded his father Odo the Great in 735....]

Pippin assisted Carloman against the Saxons 742-743, when Theoderic, Duke of Saxony,

[Theoderic or Theodoric was the leader of the Saxons in 743–744....]

was forced to come to terms, and against Odilo of Bavaria

[Odilo, of the house of Agilolfing, ruled Bavaria from 736 until his death in 748, succeeding Duke Hugbert of Bavaria...]

in 742 and again in 744, when peace was established between the brothers and their brother-in-law, for Odilo of Bavaria had married their sister Hiltrude

[Hiltrud is a daughter of Charles Martel and Rotrude of Treves....]

Strengthening of the dynasty

In his own realm, Carloman strengthened his authority in part via his support of the Anglo-Saxon

[Anglo-Saxons is a collective term usually used to describe culturally and linguistically related groups of people living in ...]

missionary Winfrid (later Saint Boniface),

[Saint Boniface , the Apostle of the Germans, born Winfrid or Wynfrith at Crediton in Devon, England, was a...]

the so-called "Apostle of the Germans," whom he charged with restructuring the church in Austrasia. This was in part the continuation of a policy begun under his grandfather, Pippin of Herstal,

[Pippin of Herstal , also known as Pippin the Middle, Pippin the Younger , or Pippin II, was the grandson ...]

and continued to under his father, Charles Martel, who erected four dioceses in Bavaria (Salzburg, Regensburg, Freising, and Passau) and gave them Boniface as archbishop and metropolitan over all Germany east of the Rhine, with his seat at Mainz. Boniface had been under Charles Martel's protection from 723 on; indeed the saint himself explained to his old friend, Daniel of Winchester, that without it he could neither administer his church, defend his clergy, nor prevent idolatry. Carloman was instrumental in convening the Concilium Germanicum

[The Concilium Germanicum was the first major Church synod to be held in the eastern parts of the Frankish kingdoms....]

in 742, the first major Church synod

[A synod is a council of a church, usually a Christian church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or app...]

to be held in the eastern regions of the Frankish kingdom. Chaired jointly by him and Boniface, the synod ruled that priests were not allowed to bear arms or to host females in their houses and that it was one of their primary tasks to eradicate pagan beliefs. While his father had frequently confiscated church property to reward his followers and to pay for the standing army that had brought him victory at Tours,

[The Battle of Tours , often called Battle of Poitiers and also called in Arabic The Court of Martyrs was fought n...]

(a policy supported by Boniface as necessary to defend Christianity) by 742 the Carolingians were wealthy enough to pay their military retainers and still support the Church. For Carloman, a deeply religious man, it was a duty of love, for Pippin a practical duty. Both saw the necessity of strengthening the ties between their house and the Church. Therefore, Carloman sought to increase the assets of the church. He donated, for instance, the land for one of Boniface's most important foundations, the monastery of Fulda.

[Fulda is a city in Hessen, Germany; it is located on the Fulda River and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district ....]

Political ruthlessness

Despite his piety, Carloman could be ruthless towards real or perceived opponents. After repeated armed revolts and rebellions, Carloman in 746 convened an assembly of the Alamanni

[The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Ma...]

magnates at Cannstatt and then had most of the magnates, numbering in the thousands, arrested and executed for high treason

[High treason, broadly defined, is an action which is grossly disloyal to one's country or sovereign....]

in the Blood Court at Cannstatt.

[The blood court at Cannstatt took place as Carloman in 746 invited all nobles of the Alamanni, to a council at Cannstatt....]

This eradicated virtually the entire tribal leadership of the Alamanni and ended the independence of the tribal duchy of Alamannia, which was thereafter governed by counts appointed by their Frankish overlords.

These actions strengthened Carloman's position, and that of the family as a whole, especially in terms of their rivalries with other leading barbarian families such as the Bavarian

[The Free State of Bavaria , with an area of 70,553 km and 12.4 million inhabitants, forms the southernmost state...]

Agilolfings.

Withdrawal from public life

On 15 August 747, Carloman renounced his position as major domo and withdrew to a monastic life, being tonsured

[Tonsure is the practice of some Christian churches and Hindu temples of cutting the hair from the scalp of clerics as a symb...]

in Rome

[Rome is the capital of Italy and of its region, called Latium....]

by Pope Zachary.

[Pope Zachary , pope , from a Greek family of Calabria, appears to have been on intimate terms with Gregory III, whom he succ...]

All sources from the period indicate that Carloman's renunciation of the world was volitional, although some have speculated that he went to Rome for other, unspecified reasons and was "encouraged" to remain in Rome by the pope, acting on a request from Pepin to keep Carloman in Italy.

Carloman founded a monastery on Monte Soratte and then went to Monte Cassino.

[Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about eighty miles south of Rome, Italy, a mile to the west of the town of Cassino and 520 m...]

All sources from the period indicate that he believed his calling was the Church. He withdrew to Monte Cassino and spent most of the remainder of his life there, presumably in meditation and prayer. His son, Drogo, demanded from Pippin the Short his father's share of the family patrimony, but was swiftly neutralised.

At the time of Carloman's retirement, Grifo escaped his imprisonment and fled to Bavaria, where Duke Odilo

[Odilo, of the house of Agilolfing, ruled Bavaria from 736 until his death in 748, succeeding Duke Hugbert of Bavaria....]

provided support and assistance. But when Odilo died a year later and Grifo attempted to seize the duchy of Bavaria for himself, Pippin, who had become sole major domo and dux et princeps Francorum, took decisive action by invading Bavaria and installing Odilo's infant son, Tassilo III,

[Tassilo III was duke of Bavaria from 748 to 787, the last of the house of the Agilolfings....]

as duke under Frankish suzerainty. Grifo continued his rebellion, but was eventually killed in the battle of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne

[Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne is a commune in the upper valley of the River Arc, and the capital and name of a canton and an arron...]

in 753. Seven years after Carloman's retirement and on the eve of his death, he once more stepped briefly on the public stage. In 754, Pope Stephen II

[Stephen II was a pope of the Roman Catholic Church ....]

had begged Pippin, now king, to come to his aid against the king of the Lombards,

[The Lombards , were a Germanic people originally from Northern Europe that entered the late Roman Empire....]

Aistulf.

[Aistulf was the duke of Friuli from 744, king of Lombards from 749, and duke of Spoleto from 751....]

Carloman left Monte Cassino to visit his brother to ask him not to march on Italy (and possibly to drum up support for his son Drogo). Pippin was unmoved, and imprisoned Carloman in Vienne,

[Vienne is a departement of France, named after the Vienne River. ...]

Drogo was the eldest son of Carloman, mayor of the palace of Austrasia. He was born before Carloman came to power in 741.

In 747 Carloman went on a pilgrimage to Rome, leaving his sons under the guardianship of his uncle Pepin the Short and the king, Childeric III. Drogo, the eldest, had probably already reached his majority and may have been left behind as mayor of the palace by his father.

Drogo's position was strong at this point and he held a church synod in 747 or 748 competing with a simultaneous synod held by Pepin. The great reformer and apostle to the Germans, Boniface, was unsure which one to attend.

After the birth of a son, Charles, to Pepin on 2 April 748, Drogo's position weakened. Carloman stayed behind in Italy to become a monk at Monte Soracte (either of his own volition or at Pope Stephen II's request) and Pepin began to manoeuvre against Drogo.

By 751 Pepin's position was strong enough to garner papal support for a takeover of the kingdom, and Childeric was deposed and Pepin crowned in his place. Drogo was forced to flee. In 753 Pope Stephen and Carloman came to Francia, the former to lend support to Pepin, the latter possibly to Drogo.

Pepin imprisoned Carloman in Vienne and Drogo was captured, tonsured, and put in a monastery.

In the era of Carloman, France did not exist. Further, he ruled over that part of the Frankish realm that corresponded with present Germany (Austrasia). He was part of the family that later became the Carolingian dynasty, but this did not serve as his name during his lifetime. There is no information on where he was born - even tracing the movements of his father, Charles Martel, does not produce many hints about this.

From the English Wikipedia page on Carloman, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia (Maire du Palais et duc des Francs, brother of Pippin the Short):

Carloman (between 706 and 716[1] – 17 August[2] 754) was the eldest son of Charles Martel, major domo or mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, and his wife Chrotrud.

On Charles' death (741), Carloman and his brother Pippin the Short succeeded to their father's legal positions, Carloman in Austrasia, and Pippin in Neustria. He was a member of the family later called the Carolingians and it can be argued that he was instrumental in consolidating their power at the expense of the ruling Merovingian kings of the Franks.

He withdrew from public life in 747 to take up the monastic habit.

Assumption of power

After the death of his father, power was not initially divided to include Grifo, another of Charles' sons, by his second wife Swanachild. This was per Charles' wishes, though Grifo demanded a portion of the realm from his brothers, who refused him.

By 742, Carloman and Pippin had ousted their half-brother, Grifo and forced him into a monastery, and each turned his attention towards his own area of influence as major domo, Pippin in the West (in what was called Neustria, roughly what is now France) and Carloman in the East (in what was called Austrasia, roughly what is now Germany), which was the Carolingian base of power.

With Grifo contained, the two mayors, who had not yet proved themselves in battle in defence of the realm as their father had, on the initiative of Carloman, installed the Merovingian Childeric III as king (743), even though Martel had left the throne vacant since the death of Theuderic IV in 737.

Unlike most medieval instances of fraternal power sharing, Carloman and Pippin for seven years seemed at least willing to work together; certainly, they undertook many military actions together. Carloman joined Pippin against Hunald of Aquitaine's rising in 742 and again in 745.

Pippin assisted Carloman against the Saxons 742-743, when Duke Theoderic was forced to come to terms, and against Odilo of Bavaria in 742 and again in 744, when peace was established between the brothers and their brother-in-law, for Odilo had married their sister Hiltrude.

Strengthening of the dynasty

In his own realm, Carloman strengthened his authority in part via his support of the Anglo-Saxon missionary Winfrid (later Saint Boniface), the so-called "Apostle of the Germans," whom he charged with restructuring the church in Austrasia. This was in part the continuation of a policy begun under his grandfather, Pippin of Herstal, and continued to under his father, Charles Martel, who erected four dioceses in Bavaria (Salzburg, Regensburg, Freising, and Passau) and gave them Boniface as archbishop and metropolitan over all Germany east of the Rhine, with his seat at Mainz.

Boniface had been under Charles Martel's protection from 723 on; indeed the saint himself explained to his old friend, Daniel of Winchester, that without it he could neither administer his church, defend his clergy, nor prevent idolatry.

Carloman was instrumental in convening the Concilium Germanicum in 742, the first major Church synod to be held in the eastern regions of the Frankish kingdom. Chaired jointly by him and Boniface, the synod ruled that priests were not allowed to bear arms or to host females in their houses and that it was one of their primary tasks to eradicate pagan beliefs.

While his father had frequently confiscated church property to reward his followers and to pay for the standing army that had brought him victory at Tours, (a policy supported by Boniface as necessary to defend Christianity) by 742 the Carolingians were wealthy enough to pay their military retainers and still support the Church. For Carloman, a deeply religious man, it was a duty of love, for Pippin a practical duty. Both saw the necessity of strengthening the ties between their house and the Church.

Therefore, Carloman sought to increase the assets of the church. He donated, for instance, the land for one of Boniface's most important foundations, the monastery of Fulda.

Political ruthlessness

Despite his piety, Carloman could be ruthless towards real or perceived opponents. After repeated armed revolts and rebellions, Carloman in 746 convened an assembly of the Alamanni magnates at Cannstatt and then had most of the magnates, numbering in the thousands, arrested and executed for high treason in the Blood Court at Cannstatt. This eradicated virtually the entire tribal leadership of the Alamanni and ended the independence of the tribal duchy of Alamannia, which was thereafter governed by counts appointed by their Frankish overlords.

These actions strengthened Carloman's position, and that of the family as a whole, especially in terms of their rivalries with other leading barbarian families such as the Bavarian Agilolfings.

Withdrawal from public life

On 15 August 747, Carloman renounced his position as major domo and withdrew to a monastic life, being tonsured in Rome by Pope Zachary. All sources from the period indicate that Carloman's renunciation of the world was volitional, although some have speculated that he went to Rome for other, unspecified reasons and was "encouraged" to remain in Rome by the pope, acting on a request from Pepin to keep Carloman in Italy.[3]

Carloman founded a monastery on Monte Soratte and then went to Monte Cassino. All sources from the period indicate that he believed his calling was the Church.

He withdrew to Monte Cassino and spent most of the remainder of his life there, presumably in meditation and prayer. His son, Drogo, demanded from Pippin the Short his father's share of the family patrimony, but was swiftly neutralised.[4]

At the time of Carloman's retirement, Grifo escaped his imprisonment and fled to Bavaria, where Duke Odilo provided support and assistance. But when Odilo died a year later and Grifo attempted to seize the duchy of Bavaria for himself, Pippin, who had become sole major domo and dux et princeps Francorum, took decisive action by invading Bavaria and installing Odilo's infant son, Tassilo III, as duke under Frankish suzerainty.

Grifo continued his rebellion, but was eventually killed in the battle of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in 753.

Seven years after Carloman's retirement and on the eve of his death, he once more stepped briefly on the public stage. In 754, Pope Stephen II had begged Pippin, now king, to come to his aid against the king of the Lombards, Aistulf.

Carloman left Monte Cassino to visit his brother to ask him not to march on Italy (and possibly to drum up support for his son Drogo).[5] Pippin was unmoved, and imprisoned Carloman in Vienne, where he died on 17 August. He was buried in Monte Cassino.

He succeeded his father as maior domus, jointly with his brother Pepin. They deprived their half-brother Grifo of his inheritance, and defeated him after he rebelled against them. In the division of territories agreed with his brother, Carloman governed Austrasia, Alemannia, Thuringia and northern Alsace.

The brothers were faced with revolts in Frisia, Bavaria, Alemannia and Aquitaine. As a symbolic assertion of their authority, they nominated Childeric III as [Merovingian] king in 743. Einhard records that "Karlomannus" was in Saxony at "castrum Hohseoburg" and there accepted the surrender of "Theodericum Saxonem illius loci primarium" in 743[170].

In 745, Carloman's brother Pepin appropriated the province of Alemannia for himself. Carloman reasserted his authority with an expedition against the Alemans in 746, massacring the leaders who had betrayed him to his brother. This triggered the defection of his other supporters, and Carloman relinquished power.

The Chronicon Sancti Medardi Suessionensis records that “Carlomannus frater Pippini junioris” became a monk in 745 and that “Pippinus junior parvus frater eius” obtained the whole of “Principatum Francorum”[172].

The Royal Frankish Annals record that, after 15 Aug 747, he left for Rome, where he built the monastery of St Sylvester on Monte Soracte before moving to the monastery of St Benedict at Monte Cassino where he became a monk[173]. He returned to France in 753 to oppose the request by Pope Stephen III (II) for Frankish help against the Lombards[174].

The Annales Moselleni record the death in 754 of "Karlamannus"[175]. m ---. The name of Carloman's wife is not known. Carloman & his wife had [three or more] children:

a) DROGO ([730/35]-after 753). "Karlemannus maiorum domus filius quondam Karoli" made a donation of property including "villa…Levione…in pago Condustrinse…" to "monasterio Stabulaus seu Malmundario" dated 8 Jun [746], subscribed by "Drogone filio eius"[176]. He succeeded his father in 747 as maior domus. His uncle Pepin set him aside in 753 and sent him to a monastery where he died soon after.

b) [other children. Settipani refers to texts which refer to "the children of Carloman" without naming them, but he does not cite these sources[177].]

was the eldest son of Charles Martel, major domo or mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks,

[The Franks or the Frankish people were one of several west Germanic federations....]

and his wife Chrotrud. On Charles' death, Carloman and his brother Pippin the Short succeeded to their father's legal positions, Carloman in Austrasia, and Pippin in Neustria

[Facts About Neustria: The territory of Neustria originated in 511, made up of the regions from Aquitaine to the English Channel, approximating mos.... ]

He was a member of the family later called the Carolingians and it can be argued that he was instrumental in consolidating their power at the expense of the ruling Merovingian kings of the Franks. He withdrew from public life in 747 to take up the monastic habit.

Assumption of power

After the death of his father, power was not initially divided to include Grifo,

[Grifo was the son of the Frankish major domo Charles Martel and his second wife Swanahild....]

another of Charles' sons. This was per Charles' wishes, though Grifo demanded a portion of the realm from his brothers, who refused him. By 742, Carloman and Pippin had ousted Grifo and forced him into a monastery, and each turned his attention towards his own area of influence as major domo, Pippin in the West (in what was called Neustria, roughly what is now France) and Carloman in the East (in what was called Austrasia, roughly what is now Germany), which was the Carolingian base of power.

With Grifo contained, the two mayors, who had not yet proved themselves in battle in defence of the realm as their father had, on the initiative of Carloman, installed the Merovingian Childeric III

[Childeric III, called either the Idiot or the Phantom King, king of the Franks, was the fourteenth and last king...]

as king, even though Martel had left the throne vacant since the death of Theuderic IV

[Theuderic IV was the Merovingian King of the Franks from 721 until his death in 737....]

Unlike most medieval instances of fraternal power sharing, Carloman and Pippin for seven years seemed at least willing to work together; certainly, they undertook many military actions together. Carloman joined Pippin against Hunald of Aquitaine's rising in 742 and again in 745.

[Hunald, Duke of Aquitaine, succeeded his father Odo the Great in 735....]

Pippin assisted Carloman against the Saxons 742-743, when Theoderic, Duke of Saxony,

[Theoderic or Theodoric was the leader of the Saxons in 743–744....]

was forced to come to terms, and against Odilo of Bavaria

[Odilo, of the house of Agilolfing, ruled Bavaria from 736 until his death in 748, succeeding Duke Hugbert of Bavaria...]

in 742 and again in 744, when peace was established between the brothers and their brother-in-law, for Odilo of Bavaria had married their sister Hiltrude

[Hiltrud is a daughter of Charles Martel and Rotrude of Treves....]

Strengthening of the dynasty

In his own realm, Carloman strengthened his authority in part via his support of the Anglo-Saxon

[Anglo-Saxons is a collective term usually used to describe culturally and linguistically related groups of people living in ...]

missionary Winfrid (later Saint Boniface),

[Saint Boniface , the Apostle of the Germans, born Winfrid or Wynfrith at Crediton in Devon, England, was a...]

the so-called "Apostle of the Germans," whom he charged with restructuring the church in Austrasia. This was in part the continuation of a policy begun under his grandfather, Pippin of Herstal,

[Pippin of Herstal , also known as Pippin the Middle, Pippin the Younger , or Pippin II, was the grandson ...]

and continued to under his father, Charles Martel, who erected four dioceses in Bavaria (Salzburg, Regensburg, Freising, and Passau) and gave them Boniface as archbishop and metropolitan over all Germany east of the Rhine, with his seat at Mainz. Boniface had been under Charles Martel's protection from 723 on; indeed the saint himself explained to his old friend, Daniel of Winchester, that without it he could neither administer his church, defend his clergy, nor prevent idolatry. Carloman was instrumental in convening the Concilium Germanicum

[The Concilium Germanicum was the first major Church synod to be held in the eastern parts of the Frankish kingdoms....]

in 742, the first major Church synod

[A synod is a council of a church, usually a Christian church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or app...]

to be held in the eastern regions of the Frankish kingdom. Chaired jointly by him and Boniface, the synod ruled that priests were not allowed to bear arms or to host females in their houses and that it was one of their primary tasks to eradicate pagan beliefs. While his father had frequently confiscated church property to reward his followers and to pay for the standing army that had brought him victory at Tours,

[The Battle of Tours , often called Battle of Poitiers and also called in Arabic The Court of Martyrs was fought n...]

(a policy supported by Boniface as necessary to defend Christianity) by 742 the Carolingians were wealthy enough to pay their military retainers and still support the Church. For Carloman, a deeply religious man, it was a duty of love, for Pippin a practical duty. Both saw the necessity of strengthening the ties between their house and the Church. Therefore, Carloman sought to increase the assets of the church. He donated, for instance, the land for one of Boniface's most important foundations, the monastery of Fulda.

[Fulda is a city in Hessen, Germany; it is located on the Fulda River and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district ....]

Political ruthlessness

Despite his piety, Carloman could be ruthless towards real or perceived opponents. After repeated armed revolts and rebellions, Carloman in 746 convened an assembly of the Alamanni

[The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Ma...]

magnates at Cannstatt and then had most of the magnates, numbering in the thousands, arrested and executed for high treason

[High treason, broadly defined, is an action which is grossly disloyal to one's country or sovereign....]

in the Blood Court at Cannstatt.

[The blood court at Cannstatt took place as Carloman in 746 invited all nobles of the Alamanni, to a council at Cannstatt....]

This eradicated virtually the entire tribal leadership of the Alamanni and ended the independence of the tribal duchy of Alamannia, which was thereafter governed by counts appointed by their Frankish overlords.

These actions strengthened Carloman's position, and that of the family as a whole, especially in terms of their rivalries with other leading barbarian families such as the Bavarian

[The Free State of Bavaria , with an area of 70,553 km and 12.4 million inhabitants, forms the southernmost state...]

Agilolfings.

Withdrawal from public life

On 15 August 747, Carloman renounced his position as major domo and withdrew to a monastic life, being tonsured

[Tonsure is the practice of some Christian churches and Hindu temples of cutting the hair from the scalp of clerics as a symb...]

in Rome

[Rome is the capital of Italy and of its region, called Latium....]

by Pope Zachary.

[Pope Zachary , pope , from a Greek family of Calabria, appears to have been on intimate terms with Gregory III, whom he succ...]

All sources from the period indicate that Carloman's renunciation of the world was volitional, although some have speculated that he went to Rome for other, unspecified reasons and was "encouraged" to remain in Rome by the pope, acting on a request from Pepin to keep Carloman in Italy.

Carloman founded a monastery on Monte Soratte and then went to Monte Cassino.

[Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about eighty miles south of Rome, Italy, a mile to the west of the town of Cassino and 520 m...]

All sources from the period indicate that he believed his calling was the Church. He withdrew to Monte Cassino and spent most of the remainder of his life there, presumably in meditation and prayer. His son, Drogo, demanded from Pippin the Short his father's share of the family patrimony, but was swiftly neutralised.

At the time of Carloman's retirement, Grifo escaped his imprisonment and fled to Bavaria, where Duke Odilo

[Odilo, of the house of Agilolfing, ruled Bavaria from 736 until his death in 748, succeeding Duke Hugbert of Bavaria....]

provided support and assistance. But when Odilo died a year later and Grifo attempted to seize the duchy of Bavaria for himself, Pippin, who had become sole major domo and dux et princeps Francorum, took decisive action by invading Bavaria and installing Odilo's infant son, Tassilo III,

[Tassilo III was duke of Bavaria from 748 to 787, the last of the house of the Agilolfings....]

as duke under Frankish suzerainty. Grifo continued his rebellion, but was eventually killed in the battle of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne

[Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne is a commune in the upper valley of the River Arc, and the capital and name of a canton and an arron...]

in 753. Seven years after Carloman's retirement and on the eve of his death, he once more stepped briefly on the public stage. In 754, Pope Stephen II

[Stephen II was a pope of the Roman Catholic Church ....]

had begged Pippin, now king, to come to his aid against the king of the Lombards,

[The Lombards , were a Germanic people originally from Northern Europe that entered the late Roman Empire....]

Aistulf.

[Aistulf was the duke of Friuli from 744, king of Lombards from 749, and duke of Spoleto from 751....]

Carloman left Monte Cassino to visit his brother to ask him not to march on Italy (and possibly to drum up support for his son Drogo). Pippin was unmoved, and imprisoned Carloman in Vienne,

[Vienne is a departement of France, named after the Vienne River. ...]

Drogo was the eldest son of Carloman, mayor of the palace of Austrasia. He was born before Carloman came to power in 741.

In 747 Carloman went on a pilgrimage to Rome, leaving his sons under the guardianship of his uncle Pepin the Short and the king, Childeric III. Drogo, the eldest, had probably already reached his majority and may have been left behind as mayor of the palace by his father.

Drogo's position was strong at this point and he held a church synod in 747 or 748 competing with a simultaneous synod held by Pepin. The great reformer and apostle to the Germans, Boniface, was unsure which one to attend.

After the birth of a son, Charles, to Pepin on 2 April 748, Drogo's position weakened. Carloman stayed behind in Italy to become a monk at Monte Soracte (either of his own volition or at Pope Stephen II's request) and Pepin began to manoeuvre against Drogo.

By 751 Pepin's position was strong enough to garner papal support for a takeover of the kingdom, and Childeric was deposed and Pepin crowned in his place. Drogo was forced to flee. In 753 Pope Stephen and Carloman came to Francia, the former to lend support to Pepin, the latter possibly to Drogo.

Pepin imprisoned Carloman in Vienne and Drogo was captured, tonsured, and put in a monastery.